Mutual Redemption
by Water Flower 2009
Summary: Meet Garden Rave, a unicorn with 99 problems, and a demon wanting to control her body is one. She's used Discord's statue for years as a way to vent her petty problems, and not feel so weird about talking to herself. But one night, her whole world gets turned upside-down with a murder, Discord's release, and him escaping. Inspired by "Bride of Discord" and the author's life.
1. Checking the Demon

Chapter 1

Keeping the Demon in Check

Garden Rave remembers the day she first saw Discord; clear as that blistering, afternoon sky. Her filly-hood teacher took the class on a tour of the Canterlot Castle's garden. It was unusually hot out that day, at least for March, and still being a budding art hobbyist at the time, she was impressed by the skill of the sculptor in their art. However, in comparison to him, all the other statues were all a bit drab and similar to one another. Somehow, she knew that he was no ordinary statute. He was too unusual and real. She had to ask to see if she wasn't imagining this feeling.

"Ms. Peachbottom, who's the artist of Discord?"

"Oh! ...um," she looked around for the artist's name on the plaque to no avail, "That's a great question, Garden. Though I'm afraid I don't know! Now this next statue is a skillful," and Garden tuned her out.

While everyone else was walking away, following the teacher on her little tour, Garden stayed behind, still staring at Discord.

"He seems so triumphant," she idly thought. "I wonder why I feel… connected to him?"

Little did she know that the connection she felt was the red string of fate.

* * *

Years later, with the addition of a loose-leaf writing sheet with a five petaled lilac blossom cutie mark, Garden wandered to the foot of Discord's statue, and sighed in frustration and fatigue.

"Honey, I'm home," she tiredly chimed and chuckled sadly.

Celestia was just finishing up the long day, and Luna was preparing to begin the night. A tired squirrel clawed up it's tree for the night. A nightingale was singing far off in the distance. A couple bunnies hopped into a bush. Everyone was ready to go home, and Garden felt envious of that luxury she felt was denied to her.

"It's not fair, Discord. I figured out today that even though my special talent is teaching, it's better that I don't become one after all," she began bitterly, "Today, I got really mad at that one colt that I've told you about. You know, the one that tends to wander instead of doing his work. Well, today he was flirting with one of his classmates and with my stupid temper, I got in a verbal fight with him. It got really heated and before I could stop her, Rave decided to make her first official appearance in quite sometime," she went on, shaking with emotion, "And I was getting all excited thinking she was gone from me," her voice cracking with tears. She pressed her hooves to her neon orange eyes, trying in vain to stop the tears from falling. Dark blue swirls, a physical manifestation of raw sadness, were making their slow tumble out of her horn.

She forced herself to continue, "I don't want to pass on this disease to another soul like it was to me. This cycle of hatred and anger needs to stop with somepony, so it should be me. But why do I have to be **chained **from my **dream**?!" she screamed with a stomp of her hooves and eyes squinted shut. The swirls were beginning to pool around her, creeping slowly toward Discord's statue. He was growing anxious for freedom at long last.

Lifting her head, she took a deep breath and continued, "I mean, I get that it's a bad idea to even risk spreading the beast to somepony else, but it still sucks that I have give up the dream I've been having since I got my cutie mark! Why did those...those **monsters** have to do this to me?! Why couldn't **they** be the ones to be done away with this demon?! Why was I gifted with these abilities, but never able to use them as they should be, just because they couldn't stop their urges?! And why can't I control even **myself?!**" she screamed to the whole universe, and especially to herself.

That's when Garden finally opened her eyes to see that she was being buried in the blue swirls. She realized that she wasn't just feeling sadness, she was _drowning_ in it. The swirls were growing so dense, that what little light she had was fading fast. She needed to get out of there. _Fast._ She was so petrified with panic that she couldn't move. Her mind racing too fast for sense. She had never let it get this bad before. She usually was able to keep the swirls from spilling out long enough to vent them into one of her crafts. But, swirls were more crippling than she had ever experienced before. She had no choice but let the raw emotion swallow her whole.

Memories of all the pet birds that she had accidentally killed from letting the swirls get out of control, came flooding. Memories of all the ponies that had tried to comfort her when she got like this as a filly. Her Magic Kindergarten teacher trying to hug her, walked right into the swarm, without seeing them, and was knocked out for a few seconds. Her best friend trying to do the same. She was only brushed by a single swirl, and didn't stop crying for a solid 20 minutes. Her first memory of her father and sister fighting. The red lightning that he struck her with by accident, he meant to only get her sister. The first time that Garden tried to tell her family about the swirls, and none of them believing her. All the memories that brought her pain and shame and guilt came flooding back all at once. Everytime she had said something she didn't mean, done something she now wish she hadn't, all the names she had been called in passing, the lost friendships, her family that had been so close to destroyed and will never be whole again; every negative thought was _strangling _her.

"Please," she shakily choked, "Please just make it stop…"

The swirls were creeping up Discord's stand now. They would surely set him free at long last.

She wanted nothing more than to get out of that pain. She shoved desperately through the bitter thoughts, trying to find some memory, some sliver of knowledge to keep from dying. Her whole life flashed before eyes, scanning for something to at least ease the pain.

"Garden," her mother had once said, "Whenever you are sad, you just go away for a bit and let all the tears fall that need to be let out. It'll pass." Her mother. She had said many wise and strange things to her youngest daughter.

"After you were born, I laid there on the bed while your father and the midwife were fighting. I was so tired, and I thought that I couldn't possibly fulfill my silent promise to you to give you a younger sibling. I swear I heard a soft, child's voice say to me, 'No, Mom, I want to be born too.' So I gave birth to your little brother after all. I guess that message he gave me from the other side used up his ability to talk when he came to this world."

There were many other examples of Garden's mother, Sea Sunshine, talking about "the other side", and about a being far more powerful than all the alicorn princesses combined, and who was working all the time to keep Equestria from falling apart. If a being that created everything in the universe, and that works to this day to keep the world together and working, wouldn't such a being help a pony when they couldn't help themselves? It was a long shot, Garden had always brushed off her mother's words in the past, but she was short on options. She put her head in her crossed forehooves like she often saw her mother do, and prayed with everything she had left.

"Please, if you're really out there, please help me. I can't do this alone. I feel so lonely and scared. Please release me from this fear and guilt."

All of a sudden, a spark inside her heart ignited a fire that exploded into a blaze. A yellow flame that felt so vast in it's peacefulness, that somewhere in her head Garden thought she should be nervous. But she was too eerily calm to even care. The calm was too complete, too steady to be from Garden's own will, and she knew it. She looked down to see her heart glowing through her fur, flickering with a flame that moved like a candle, yet was as big as a bonfire. Remembering the swirls, she searched the area, to see that they were all gone, and nothing had changed. She practically melted with relief. Getting up, feeling lighter than air, Garden trotted home finally able to sleep.

Discord: Damn you, Miss Heather! I will be free, yet!

Me: Key word: yet.

Garden: Heather, you've got enough of a self-insert as is. Go away.

Me: But it progressed the story! :3 *mischievous giggle*

Garden: *rolls eyes*

That night, Garden's sleep was deep, but her dreams were divided.

_Garden walked heavily into an enormous, empty, and dark throne room. There was nothing in there except for a throne on the back wall, and a gargantuan mirror that almost took up the whole left wall. She was trying to hide from her own guilt, away from prying eyes._

"_No one must ever know I've done," she said, "No one must ever know about __**her**_ _existence." Turning towards the mirror, she looked regretfully at her reflection and continued, "Am I a good mare, or am I crazy?" She hung her head and sighed, "Why is there such a fine line between the two?"_

"_Don't even try and pretend that I've left, my friend," a chillingly familiar voice said inside the mirror. Garden flinched away from what she saw in the mirror. She didn't want to believe what she saw. "You keep on forgetting that you will never get away from me," the image laughed cruelly. It looked a little like Garden, it was her at all. It was the demon._

"_You're just a face in a mirror!"_

"_I'm the face that you will forever have to face."_

_Garden walked away from the mirror, "You won't be able to live much longer," she stomped her hoof, "I swear, I __will_ _be rid of you tonight, Rave! You're just a bad dream!"_

"_This isn't just a dream, friend," image laughed and stepped out of the mirror. Sliding out of the image like it were water, the ruffled version of Garden's mane and tail, the rumpled fur, the piercing red eyes with black corneas, the warped flower of Garden's cutie mark, all came into reality. "It doesn't matter what you want to believe, I'm here to stay, even when you die," the twisted copy sneered, and advanced on a fuming Garden, who whipped around to face her. _

"_You __**will**_ _die, and my silence will assure you will be forgotten."_

"_You can't hide me away, I'm inside you. I'm __**part**_ _of you!"_

"_I don't need you, like you need me," she said, advancing on Rave, standing firmly at her full height, "I will become complete as you wither away!"_

_In answer, she seemed to grow a little bigger, standing taller than Garden, and smiled a demented smile to reveal a set of fangs. "I will live inside you forever!" she yelled in Garden's face, making her back away. Rave pulled out a chain from inside her chest. It changed to the floor, giving her a chain long enough to lasso a pony, "And there's nothing you can do to stop me!" Like a black mamba, the chained whipped towards Garden in a flash, burying the last link deep within her chest. The sheer force of the impact sent her stumbling back, giving a yelp of pain. _

_Biting back the sting, Garden continued to back way, but retaliated, "Can't you see? It's time for you you to die!" a little of her fear creeping into her voice._

"_No, but it is time for __you_ _to leave," she said advancing victoriously._

"_If I die, you die too!" she was growing desperate, as she bumped into the wall opposite of the mirror. _

_Rave grabbed a bit of the chain, "You'll die in me, I'll __**be you!**_" _and wrapped it behind Garden's head, pulling her closer. _

"_Damn you, Rave! Set me __**free!**_" _she screamed desperately. _

"_Can't you see, you __**are **__me!" she screamed back, laughing._

"_No," she shook her head, "NO!" and shook it harder. "Just go rot in Tartarus!"_

"_See you there, __**Garden!**_" _and she pointed her sharpened horn at her throat, ready to strike, red lightning fizzling around it. _

"_**Be still,**_" _said a deep, booming, yet calm voice that sent chills down both their spines, and Rave fled inside Garden. The damage had been done, and now Garden's heart was chained to Rave, and she was powerless to free herself. _

"_Fear not. I'm here to save you," startling Garden out of thought, and looked up to see a young stallion standing before her. He wasn't remarkable in any immediate way: his almost navy blue mane and tail were short and unassuming, and his coat was a slightly lighter blue. The only thing that made this stallion exceptional, was his cutie mark: a dark red heart with a white cross inside it, but not the kind common among medical ponies, and Garden felt nervous in his presence. She could sense that this stallion knew her better than anypony else, that he knew about that one time that she did something she knew she would get in trouble for, and blamed it on her little brother, something that she was deeply ashamed of. _

_He cupped her face gently and said, "I say again, I'm here to save you, and you are never beyond repair."_

_In a moment, all the stress in Garden's shoulders left her, and her heart slowed to a contented thump. Thump. Thump. _

_All of a sudden, several ponies entered the throne room, which was slowly growing lighter, making them easier to see. They were all ordinary Earth ponies, with average, unassuming cutie marks. However, they all had these wings made of the soft reflection of candle light. Garden had only heard of angel ponies from her mother a few times, it was different to see them for herself. They were all singing a gentle but moving tune as they lifted themselves and Garden up through the disappearing ceiling into the clouds, with sun just barely starting to rise. They sang all the while about the glory and beauty and infinite wisdom of God. _

_As the angels set Garden gently onto a cloud, the Messiah stepped onto the cloud and walked towards her with a flame burning within his chest; much like the blaze that had been in her in front of Discord's statue, with a warm, comforting glow. He stopped in front of her, staring warmly into her eyes, like husband might admire his wife, or a father might look in favor on his beloved child, but even more completely loving and intimate. _

_Lifting a hoof up to his chest, he plucked the fire within him, and moved it towards Garden, giving her a chance to stare in wonder and awe. There it hovered, it's sluggish flickering and blazing form dancing in her eyes. _

"_I offer you my spirit and my strength with it," the Messiah tenderly intoned, "Do you accept it?"_

"_I do," she whispered, still wonderstruck. _

_Slowly, he moved his spirit to her chest, and delicately pressed it into her chest. The flame consumed her heart, cleansing it from all the years of heartache, every regret washed away, and for a moment, Garden felt more complete than she could ever remember feeling. The flames rose, and rose higher, until they morphed into angel wings. The wings flapped of their own will, joined with her will. Into the multitude of angels she flew, joining the final verse of the song, throwing her whole heart into the crescendo, until the abrupt end. _

_In the breathless silence that followed, a small applause brought the attention to the protector of the night, Princess Luna, and everything faded into a place filled with white nothingness. _

"_Princess Luna! So I really am just dreaming, that's a little disappointing."_

"_I'm sure it is. Sorry to interrupt such a pleasant dream."_

"_N-no, thank you for 'dropping by'," she chuckled nervously._

_A chuckle that Luna shared to ease the lilac purple unicorn's nerves. "You have such a lovely singing voice, you must be the pony that she mentioned," she mused quietly. _

"_...That __**who**_ _mentioned, your majesty?"_

"_...Nevermind, I'd like to formally ask __**thee to make an appearance at the Grand Galloping Gala this year,**_" _she stated, slipping a little a bit into her Royal Canterlot Voice. Despite Garden's training in dealing with upset parents, she was a little unnerved from the volume so close to her face. _

"'_An appearance', your majesty?" she asked, feeling uncertain._

"_**YES!**_" _Luna exclaimed, making Garden visibly wince. She cleared her throat and consciously went back into her normal talking voice, "I mean, yes. My sister put me in charge of finding the entertainment for the night, and I've been looking for a singer."_

_This surprised Garden into silence for a moment, as she tried to wrap her head around, what that entailed exactly._

"_Oh! So you want me to sing at the Gala?" Luna nodded. "What an honor! I'd love to, your majesty! Is there any particular song you would like me to sing?"_

"_Yes, there is one…"_

* * *

The next morning, dazed and amazed, Garden Rave found herself standing in Canterlot Castle's ballroom. She was about ready to faint from the amazing and terrifying opportunity for her to show off one of her lesser known skills. She had prided herself in having a decent voice in the past, despite being turned down multiple times to solo, during all the choir concerts she was part of in college. But to get the attention of the returned Princess Luna, and being asked to perform in front of hundreds of ponies. It took all of her willpower to not let her emotions get the best of her. But her head was spinning so fast!

"Good evening, everypony," Luna announced, making sure to keep her voice down enough to frighten anypony.

"Good evening, Princess Luna," intoned a red-tan Earth mare, as she bowed to Luna, along with the other ponies there.

"Ms. Harshwhinny, this is your new lead singer, Garden Rave."

She looked Garden up and down with a critical eye, giving no noticeable sign of approval.

"Ms. Harshwhinny," Luna interjected in the uncomfortable tenseness between the red-tan and lavender ponies, "I would love to stay, but I must go to bed for the day. Would you take over from here."

"Of course your majesty," she assured with a low bow, "Ms. Rave here," Garden flinched at the name, "Is well taken care of."

As Luna regally walked out of the room, Garden turned to Ms. Harshwhinny and pleaded, "If you could, Ms. Harshwhinny, would you mind calling me 'Garden' or 'Ms. Garden' instead of 'Ms. Rave'?"

With a huff and a slight glare, she replied, "I don't see why you insist on breaking such a rule," Garden gave a flat look at the floor, "However, since you are so polite about it I suppose there will be no problems in bending this rule, Ms. Garden," she sighed in relief, "But know that I am not your friend, and I will not bend anymore rules for you!" Ms. H snapped.

"I don't expect you to, ma'am," Garden half chuckled, "Thank you."

"You're welcome, Ms. Garden. Now allow me to introduce the ponies on this group so far," she rushed, muttering about how overly long she would have to work on this project.

Royal Riff, Garden's back up singer, and a slightly more well built stallion, was quiet and easy to talk to. Everything about him, from the faded lavender coat and wispy, snow white mane and tail, spoke of gentleness, but too average to stand out.

Goldshy, the piano player, was quiet, only saying enough to acknowledge Garden's presence and coldly refused to say another word. His coat was a dull tan, and his mane was an off-white cream. His eyes were a sharp green, that seemed to silently judge you.

Noteworthy, was an earth pony, stallion that was the most unremarkable of all the stallions, at least to anypony other than Garden. She recognized this pony as the Messiah from her dream the night before. The only difference being that Noteworthy's cutie mark was two sets of one-eighth notes. The thought of what the presence of this pony might mean made her heart pound.

"This is Noteworthy, and he in charge of the sound system. Mr. Noteworthy, this is the chosen lead singer, Garden Rave," Ms. H rushed through, now quite done with making all the formal introductions, muttering about how she should be more efficient in the future about introducing everypony to each other, as she trotted off to take care of something.

"Good to see the Princess was so timely in finding somepony to be the star."

"I'm only surprised to see that she's planning so far in advance."

"Yeah," he chuckled, "Pretty early, if you ask me. Though I'm never against having the extra money for all the bills."

"Indeed," she said adding her squeaky, hiccupping giggle, raising a hoof in modesty.

* * *

"Even when she was getting all excited over my wings, she looked kind of mean!" Garden giggled in remembrance of her "professional" gushing. She was back at the foot of Discord, as she seemed to do more frequently lately. "I guess she not named 'Harshwhinny' for nothing," and she couldn't help but giggle harder at the memory. Then her thoughts wandered back to Noteworthy

"Noteworthy has quite the appropriate name, too, doesn't he. Kinda weird how he looked so much like the pony from my dream, right? I don't know, it just seems kinda… well, noteworthy the timing of me meeting him. Note to self: definitely keep your eye on the blue one." A long pause. "Huh… and to think that I would have been scared of his blue coat just yesterday," she half whispered in disbelief at herself.

She looked down at her chest, remembering the flaming heart that she saw appear earlier that afternoon when her wings of light appeared for the first time in the real world, and she smiled crookedly.

Putting a hoof to her chest, she said, "He really did set my heart on fire. And I'm changing far faster than I thought possible."

* * *

Meanwhile, at the entrance to the castle gardens, a dark blue unicorn stallion was convincing a friend of his to keep the garden clear of the nightly guards, so he might have a "romantic evening."

~~~~~~~~~/~~~~~~~~~~

Author's Note:

I don't own the following: the MLP universe and all the canon characters, the songs _When Mercy Found Me, Confrontation, _and _Never Beyond Repair._ By the way, Goldshy is just an otherwise unnamed background pony in MLP. I found him playing the piano at the Grand Galloping Gala. I also give credit to DisneyFanatic2364 for _Bride of Discord_, and to Hoopy McGee, author of _The Keepers of Discord_ for inspiring me to write this story. I would also like to point you towards a video by Dr. Wolf called _MLP Season Five Story Ideas Part Five_.


	2. The Demon Rises

In the far off distance, the sun was dipping below the horizon, and at the opposite end of the sky, the moon slipped into view. In the red and purple shadowing of the sun's light, a few of the brighter stars blinked into sight, adding a certain sparkle to the sun set. A tired squirrel clawed up it's tree for the night. A nightingale was singing far off in the distance. A couple bunnies hopped into a bush. Everyone was returning home for the night, like clockwork. However, unlike last night, Garden Rave felt content, more than she could remember _ever_ feeling. There she sat, longer than she normally did, in silence, thinking about her dream, the song she was tasked with performing in several months, and about Noteworthy. She was so deep in thought, that she was unaware of her surroundings.

"Well, well, well," a stallion said huskily behind her, making her flinch into awareness, "If it isn't my dear cousin, Garden."

She whipped around, not sure who was talking to her, and with a knot of dread in her stomach. The stallion that she saw made her blood run cold. He was a cobalt blue unicorn with a cream colored, rumpled mane, with a standard guard-pony cutie mark. He felt familiar, but Garden was drawing a blank on who he was.

"Aw, you can't remember me, little cousin?" he said, feigning wounded feelings.

"Cousin?" she squeaked. Certain gears were falling into place in her mind, and the knot in her stomach tightened almost painfully.

He took a step forward, with a grin on his face that made her skin crawl. The moon light shining from behind him, and his irises almost glowed with a bright red swirl, triggered a memory that Garden didn't want to remember. A dark room. Trapped. No idea what he wanted, but instinctively knowing that she wanted no part in it. The same glowing red swirl in his mahogany eyes. The same hair-raising grin. Her as a filly, cowering in the shadow of a stallion four times her size; the same size of the stallion slowly advancing on her. She now knew who he was, and bright red swirls began to tumble out of her horn much like the sadness, but not sorrow. Her eyes tingled with a vague burning sensation as she remembered what he had done to her as a filly. Her horn sharpened as she remembered the thistle that he had planted in her heart, that now chained her from her destiny. Her mane began to rumple on its own remembering the years of innocently brushing off what happened as just a bad dream, and the day that she was faced with the event being real. With swirls pooling at her hooves she opened her eyes to reveal bright red irises instead of neon orange, and shadow creeping towards the iris in the sclera.

"Why," the transformed Garden sneered, smiling to expose fangs, "How could I possibly forget _you_, Star Rain."

"So glad to see that your memory has come back to," Star replied, his voice also dripping in fake civility. He took another step towards her, ignoring how altered Garden looked and acted.

"How _neglectful _you are dear cousin," she sweetly rebuked, "It has been _years_ since I last saw you. What brings you here so _late _in the evening?"

"I have come for _you_, beloved Garden," he retorted, openly leering at her.

"Little, old, me?" she said coyly. He started to drool a little.

"Why, yes! You see, I asked my guard friend to make sure to leave us alone for the evening," he said, voice deepening, walking closer, "We're all alone. And I want you."

Pretending to think about it, she looked down and closed her eyes, trying to figure out how best to reply. The swirls were now licking at the base of Discord's statue. She settled with, "Sounds fun, but I have a question for you," she paused to glare at him with a bloodthirsty grin, "You sure that you want death?"

Without waiting for a reply, Garden lunged at Star Rain, using her fangs to gain a hold on his cheek, and used her whole body weight to fling him to the ground. Not wanting to waste the opportunity, she stomped on his neck. While he was gasping for air, she got to her hooves. Rearing to her back hooves, she tried to crush his skull with her fore hooves, but he managed to roll out of the way. As he tried to get up, he accidentally stepped on a stray swirl. The electric-like shock of the raw anger surged up his leg, rendering it useless and him in distracting pain. The opening allowed her the time to punch his muzzle, making his nose and lip bleed. What Star didn't realize, but Discord was vexed on, was that with each wound Garden inflicted, some of the anger swirls entered him through the wounds, shrinking the massive and ever growing swarm. There was only one way to get rid of them.

"Finally, after all this time, I'll be able to get rid of you and these stupid swirls." She cackled with delight born of blood lust that was fed with Star Rain's head being crushed under Garden's fore hooves. Discord was delighted.

With all the anger laid to rest inside the corpse, she reverted back to her normal self, now splattered with the blood of her own kin. Much too preoccupied to notice the statue cracking. She shook in horror at what she had done. The same blood that racing to every pore on her body now splattered all over her, dripping from grass blades into the dirt. There was no way she could avoid this one. Her heartbeat was so loud and so fast, the adrenaline focusing all her attention on her rage-filled handy-work, she had no idea that the creature that she had visited for so many years was now being set free for the first time in a millennium. She didn't need that knowledge to flee from her crime to attempt to wash the blood from herself, and not connect herself to such a heinous crime.

* * *

As she was fleeing the scene, Discord took advantage of his first few moments of freedom.

"AAA! Oi! One! Thousand! Yeeears! Will give you such a crick in the neck!" he exclaimed, stretching his whole body like taffy, twisting and spinning his head around, his long neck coiling on itself, until his head popped off spinning like a top a ways into the sky. It landed right next to the body, in the pool of blood.

"Well, I knew that she was an unusually _passionate_ pony, but to cause chaos that sails right over the line of pure evil…" he tailed off as he made his ear turn into a paper airplane and sail a short distance to the other side of the body, landing in a pool of blood still growing bigger. It made him chuckle to himself. The blood bubbled up turning into Discord's body, reattaching his head ear to their proper places. He stared at the body, thinking of what he could do with it.

"To think that a _pony_ of all creatures, could be able to destroy another of their kind, never mind a _family member_. I _knew_ that my little savior was special." This new position that he had with Garden made him pause, the twisted gears of his mind whirring.

"Since she saved me, I think I shall do her a favor, and abandon my original plan of hiding out for a bit before I take over, and distract every-pony from what she did for me," he sneered, and turned the body into a pile of paper cranes colored cream and cobalt blue, the pile still vaguely in the shaped of a slightly unusually large stallion unicorn. He took a long, deep, and loudly hissing breath, making his body swell like a long, thin balloon. Holding it for a moment, he let the air out in a huge gust, sounding like a balloon fart. The wind kicked up all the cranes, making them flap their little wings, the group splitting into two different directions.

"Yes," Discord said lovingly, "Fly my pretties. Notify the _prissy princesses_ of my return. Meanwhile, I'm going to…" cough, "_Borrow,_ those blasted Elements of Harmony," and off he flew, spreading tiny bits of chaos as he went. One bush grew rainbow-colored gumballs. A tree into a giant candy cane. An unlucky buzzard that really buzzed into an eternally ringing cell phone.

"Oh to be free again!"

~~~~~~~~~~/~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Author Note: So... that happened. This chapter was going to be longer but it felt right to just split it up into more dramatic sections. There's going to be a few chapters after this to show a few months passing. Reviews are appreciated, and the person that knows all the references I made in this chapter gets a cookie. :3


	3. Where is Discord?

Most of what happened after that, you already know, if you've seen Season 2 episodes 1-2 of My Little Pony: Discord stole the Elements of Harmony, and hid them, then tricked Twilight Sparkle and her friends into a trap to twist who they are and were on the inside. Twilight found a way to break the spell and gathered her friends back together to defeat Discord for a second time.

In shock and dread, Discord watched as the Elements of Harmony powered up to turn him into stone again. "Oh no," he thought in a panic, "There's no way I'm going to just let myself turn into stone again."

The rainbow carrying Discord's doom, burst from the 6 ponies, arching straight for it's target. "Not a chance!"

The smoke cleared, and there was much to rejoice and cheers to be had.

"Oh thank heavens!" cried Rarity, "He's gone!"

"And Ponyville is back ta normal!" added Applejack.

"Um, where's Discord?" whimpered Fluttershy nervously.

"You all know what this means, girls! A PARTY!"

"Aw! Yeah!" added Rainbow Dash, flapping a somersault mid-air.

"Uh, girls," whispered Fluttershy in growing distress, "We need to report to-"

"Hold on, girls!" interrupted Twilight, "Where did Discord go?"

All the girls, except Fluttershy, halted and gasped in shock at not seeing their enemy returned to stone. Fluttershy mumbled something about being- but really, where did Discord go? Surely Princess Celestia would know!

* * *

A few days, one staged ceremony, and a wild goose chase spanning all of Equestria, and even a little beyond, Twilight was in conference with her mentor.

"So you didn't find any sign either?" she sighed.

"No, it appears Discord was more careful than I expected about hiding."

"What do we do now?"

"Wait."

"...Wait?" asked, incredulous.

"Twilight," answered Celestia patiently, "We can't find him anywhere, and I doubt he has given up hope for taking over Equestria. All we _can_ do is wait for his next move."

* * *

After Discord disappeared, the general public was kept ignorant of Discord being in hiding. However, Celestia's guard was scattered across all of Equestria, keeping an eye out for any signs of his return with strict orders to act like nothing was wrong. Just as a safety precaution.

* * *

_Author's Note: Short chapter, I know, but what I have coming up for the next chapter just didn't feel right to be lumped with this plot point. Hoping to get the next chapter out a little bit faster. The next plot point is a bit of a doozy. ;3_


	4. Homecoming

It is a truth universally acknowledged that the worst kind of common storm is hail. Especially if that hail is rainbow-colored gumballs that taste like bacon soda, which happens to be the worst soda ever made. The only reason that Garden tried one of these awful tasting horrors is that she was a great fan of gum, and had the luxury of being both delirious from adrenaline and under a shop canopy turned into gingerbread. So while half the ponies in Canterlot were trying to get to their floating homes, and the other half were twisting their ankles on the waxed streets of gold, Garden was puking up the worst tasting thing she had had in a while. It is worth noting that she absolutely despised anything involving pepper. Of any kind.

Thankfully, Princess Celestia was able to reverse the most obvious of Discord's effect on Canterlot fairly quickly. This allowing Garden to finally run safely home on the other side of town, and find out if her family came out of the catastrophe okay.

* * *

By the time she made it home the sun was once again acting normally, ceasing it's random, sudden swaps with the moon. It was late afternoon, a time of day that would normally be when everypony would be getting back home from their various engagements. Garden was hopeful in finding at least _one_ member of her family coming home safely. She slowed her full gallop when she came in sight of the house and saw that a light in the living room was on. Through the window, she could see an older, sky blue unicorn mare sitting on the couch with her head in her hooves.

Relief flooded Garden, as she gulped in painful gusts of air. Kneeling on the ground for a moment, she allowed her lungs to recover from the choking burn from her panicked sprint. Some of her panic seeped from her into the ground. At least her mother was safe, and relatively unharmed.

A pony came up behind Garden, and patted her shoulder saying, "Hey, Garden. What's wrong?"

Looking up, she saw a spring green unicron with blue lagoon hair very similar to her own style. "Oh. Hey, Pearl," she replied and stood up, "Glad to see that you're safe too."

"Safe? Safe from what?" she asked, walking towards the house.

Garden followed in mild confusion, "From the weird chaos that effected the entire city? Didn't you know?"

Pearl froze, "What chaos?"

"Um… hard to explain… it was so surreal and… busy?" she stumbled, "Well… ok, so the streets were turned into gold somehow, and they were waxed to the point where nopony could walk safely anywhere. Some of the houses and shops grew giant, spinning flowers from the chimneys, making them float into the sky. It was hailing these rainbow colored gumballs that didn't taste like bubble gum at all! They tasted more like peppered, smoked mushrooms, which made me gag when I tasted them. A few upper-class unicorn's horns were spinning on their head and making drill noises! Some of the stores were turned into…" she paused in her rant at the front door from Pearl's face that screamed, "What are you on?!"

"What?! It's true!"

"Sure it is. And I'm guessing you also ran into Dad while you were there, and he was actually a real gentlecolt," she snarked and used her magic to open the door, "We're home! And Garden was on shrooms!"

"I was not! I swear, it all happened!"

"What happened?" their mother asked tiredly.

"The whole city was -"

"Garden somehow got her hooves on some mushrooms and had a bad trip!" Pearl interrupted jokingly, nudging her flustered sister with her leg.

Don't be mistaken. Garden has always, and will always love her family to no end. However, that's has never stopped her from silently fuming at being interrupted by them.

"You-! Freaking-! Rrrargh!" she gritted out and stormed up to her room in a huff; slamming the door in pure frustration.

"...Pearl."

"Yeah, Mom?"

"I taught you better than that, didn't I?"

"...Sorry."

"Save it for when Garden has calmed down."

"Right," she mumbled, hanging her head in shame, "Maybe I should go talk to her."

"I wouldn't yet. She'll come out when she's ready."

* * *

Hot, angry tears were Garden's only solice. Seriously, she was so worried about her family's safety, and what does she get; to be shamed and ridiculed by her own sister! The same sister that changed Garden's diapers, had watched her grow up; and most importantly, had made sure that she knew just enough about drugs to not ever consume them like Pearl and Sapphire had.

As Garden screamed and cried into her pillow, the blue swirls returned. This time, thanks to a need for air to scream and cry some more, Garden quickly saw them, and this time she was conveniently in her room, where her pet projects were held; she felt like crocheting. Levitating a large, multicolored, half-finished beanbag chair off her desk chair, and a golden hook, she got to work. Slip-knot by tedious slip-knot, she added to her still growing piece of furniture. And with every stitch, the blue swirls went with it, infusing with the yarn.

Long ago, after the first appearance of the swirls, Garden had discovered that the cursed swirls left her and everypony else alone if she was working on something. She had discovered it after Pearl taught her the basics of crochet…

"_Then, you pull it through the loop. That's it just like that!"_

"_I did it!"_

"_Very good! Now try to do it alone this time."_

"_Okay!" a filly version of Garden squeaked out, as she struggled to make another link in a crude attempt of a simple chain. She knew that the chain wasn't perfect yet, but she didn't mind. The best part of the whole thing was that the swirls that hurt her and everpony it touched, would just soak right into the yarn. Anything to keep herself and everypony else around her safe was a good thing in her book. Plus, it meant that her sister had to pay close attention to her and even praise her; something that Garden badly wanted with her whole being. Being the baby of the family by at least 50 moons was a lonely position to live in. Especially since her only companion her age within easy distance couldn't even talk. _

"_And… Ha! There!" she triumphed as she saw the tail end of the last swirl coil around the new stitch and sink into it._

"_Good job, Garden! You're getting so good at this!"_

"_Really, Pearl?"_

"_Really."_

It was Garden's fondest memory with her sister. It was on those blissful afternoons that she could forget the insanity that she was living with; could ignore the horrors that tormented her every waking and sleeping moment. She was released, for a brief time to simply exist and rest her heart, soul and mind. But that wasn't the only thing that she learned could distract her from her curse…

"_Hey, Garden!"_

"_Yeah, Heptagon?"_

"_There's this performance going on at the theater that you might like. You wanna come along?"_

"_Sure! That's sounds like fun!"_

Of Garden's four siblings, Heptagon was the closest father-figure that she wanted to be around, and she looked up to him. Not only was he the oldest child, but being the open hearted colt that he was, he was the most tolerant of Garden hanging out with him, even on the rare occasions he had his friends over. He even sometimes took her out to the theater, and had been the primary means of exposing her to the culture of Canterlot and a little beyond. Garden trusted him the most, and had always quietly seeked his approval. This feeling only intensified after, the family had escaped the suffocating clutches of her father. For a very long time, he was the only male that she felt she could trust to any degree.

Garden's tears had finally stopped, and the swirls were mostly absorbed now. Once again, the yarn was giving her temporary relief from her curse. It is an old curse. It has been in her family line for many, many centuries. It is known as the Seven Deadly Curse (aka SDC). Not the most inventive name, but poignant none the less.

Long ago, well before the establishment of Equestria, the creation of the SDC occurred in a pair of star-crossed lovers. At the time, the unicorn and earth pony tribes despised one another; two families in particular had had an especially turbulent relationship, frequently getting into squabbles that sometimes turned violent, though never bloody. The heads of both these families each had a child that were spoiled rotten. The unicorn daughter was greedy and rebellious. Her favorite past time was driving her nannies into quitting, and seeing how far she could push her parents without them beating her, and how quickly they would regret it and shower her with trinkets and toys. The earth pony son was no better; he was lazy and vain. One day, the two of them met under forgotten circumstances and decided to run away together. Over time, their selfish tendencies bred resentment between the two, committing the seven deadly sins over and over again, in bigger and more destructive ways. Finally, the negative energy surrounding them grew so concentrated, that it bred the Seven Deadly Curse: a magical disease that infects its host like a parasite, so whenever a pony gives into their vice, they turn into a twisted version of themselves. Since then, the disease has been passed from generation to generation, and though it has been said that some ponies have managed to lift the curse, the cure has only been recorded once: when Nightmare Moon was turned back into Princess Luna.

Everypony has their vice. In Luna, it was envy. In the unicorn mare from long ago, it was greed. The earth stallion's was sloth. Garden's is anger. And she remembered the day she first caught Ms. Rave…

_Right around the corner, Father and Sapphire were yelling at each other again. The argument contents didn't concern little Garden, just barely potty trained. Her wide, sunny yellow eyes peaked around the corner into the kitchen nervously. She had sneaked away from Mother when she had her back turned. She wasn't allowed to be there during fights. Why were Father and eldest sister so angry all the time?_

_All of a sudden, Father reared onto his hind legs and shot a stream of angry, red lightning bolts straight for Sapphire...and a tiny trickle at an unsuspecting Garden. Only one of the bolts barely grazed her, but they had left their scar. The yellow of her eyes have stained neon orange ever since. _

Garden looked to her side from the bed and stared at her reflection, the piercing orange of her eyes leaving her with the dull ache of loss, both of a sister she hardly knew, and of a time before the swirls. The ache had long since become familiar to her. She wondered if the years when her eyes were yellow, were also when she was as happy as the color.

She figured she was calm enough to face her family again. The swirls were all absorbed now, and her body felt a little numb. It always felt that way after an episode.

* * *

Author's Note: So here's the new chapter, it's kind of filler as far as storyline goes, but sets up some more backstory for Garden Rave, her family, and her curse. Btw, this is all heavily influenced by my own life story, and was only tweaked and embellished to fit into the Equestria better. Also, Garden's reason for killing her cousin will be explained much later. I don't expect Discord to return for a few more chapters, but hopefully I can entertain you sufficiently until then. Happy reading! ^^


	5. Dinner Time

"Thanks for getting the food again, Heptagon," said Tea Rose.

"No problem, Mom," replied the tall, sky blue and emerald unicorn stallion.

"Oo! You got some nice Asters today!" chirped Pearl, levitating said flowers out of the saddle bags.

"Yeah, especially since they only just started blooming."

"So, what do you want me to make out of them? Sandwiches?" Tea asked her youngest, Blue Tang. His only answer was his usual blank stare with his yellow eyes and turning away to trot into the kitchen. As if being the only earth pony in a family full of unicorns wasn't hard enough, Blue was also mute.

She followed him into the kitchen, and he pointed toward the ingredients for aster sandwiches while Heptagon and Pearl unloaded the rest of the groceries. It was when he was extracting a small bundle of candytuft from the bag that Garden finally appeared, anxious to forget about her most recent episode.

"Hey. You got candytuft," she weakly intoned.

His ears pricked to the stairs, recognizing the familiar aftereffects of an emotional day. He levitated the small bouquet to her; the magic around it shifting from his yellow magic to her orange magic. Those few seconds were not unstudied, nor lost on Garden. Unknown to her face and her family, a flash of memory overtook her mind; the red lightning rage coming for her, and the first time the red swirls came from her horn…

"_Please, I need to go to the bathroom __**now**__," _

"_You can, but you have to go in my mouth," _

"_No! That's gross!" _

"_I'll show you mine if you don't do it," _

_How Garden despised how well he knew her fears. How she despised even more the gratitude she felt towards the red that expelled him across the room after the deed was already done. The curse had finally blossomed in her. _

It took a great deal of her will to not let the memory effect her appearance, and was grateful that the general assumption for her shaky steps into the kitchen were taken as emotional recovery instead of risk for another episode. How she hoped the horrors in her mind and heart would never be known to anypony.

Out of her view, a few blue swirls snuck out, and crept into her stomach.

Candytuft. What to do with it. A sweet flower deserved to be enjoyed. Deserved full attention. Fight the memory. Why was she no longer hungry? She had to eat. It's been more than half a day since her last meal. Sandwich? Bread sounded like a weak filler. Not good enough nutrients. Soup? Takes too long, she needed food **now**. Straight? Too fast, she wanted to eat with her family. Salad? Well, that's a little closer. But what else to eat with it?

"What do you want, Garden?" her mother asked chopping up asters.

"Don't know," she replied, head low and ears back.

"Why do you never know what to eat?" she silently berated herself.

"Well, I'm making aster sandwiches. I see you have candytuft; you want that in yours?"

Aster. Of course! Aster goes great with candytuft! There's her salad!

"Actually, could I have them in a salad?"

"Please say 'sure'," she begged in her head, "Please don't comment on it."

"Sure, you want some of this?" Tea pointed to her pile of chopped aster, with a little forbearance. Her tone, was studiously ignored. Garden _really_ didn't want to eat alone in her room again tonight just to avoid worried looks and comments from her family. It was all too rare that they could all eat a meal at the same time. So the battle with her stomach to submit to her want of company raged on, for it seemed very intent on not feeling hungry despite its lack of food.

"Sounds good."

The process of making her salad was somewhat solitary in the din of her siblings and mother constructing their aster sandwiches. Why couldn't eating be such a struggle all the time? Everypony else seemed to handle the same question with such ease. The thoughts of shame and frustration brought more of the dreaded swirls, and Garden watched a little helplessly and they slithered to her stomach. She beat back the negative thoughts and tried to focus on something else.

"...I don't see why she needs to always be in charge all the time," sighed her mother.

"Not sure, but don't we all want to be in charge?" responded Heptagon.

"I we both do, Mom," teased Pearl

"Shut up!" she laughed, lightly bumping her hoof against her mischevious daughter's chest. Everypony in the room giggled, even Blue Tang.

The domestic comfort of her family's laughter warmed Garden's heart, and without anypony knowing it, a soft yellow glow came from her stomach, and she gained back a bit of her appetite, as she piled on more spinach leaves and croutons onto her plate. And that was when a small shiver went down Garden's spine, with the feeling that someone, or something was watching her. Was that… Sapphire again? ...No, this one feels different. But who? She shook the thought away to go sit with her family at the dinner table.

As was custom in their family, Tea Rose prayed over the meal while her children closed their eyes and bowed their heads. Out of curiosity, Garden squinted one eye open to look at the reactions of her other siblings, half listening to Tea's prayer for good health and safety. As usual, Tang was quietly eating, paying no attention to the saying grace. Pearl, one of her eyes squinting open as well toggled between glaring at the rude behavior of Tang, and longing for her food. Heptagon, being the oldest, acted as example to all his younger siblings by obeying the family tradition, but not reacting in any way to what was being said in said prayer. Something like sadness from all the reactions as she had to remember that at one point, like all of them, she didn't believe in the God that her mother was praying to, and she had no idea of how to broach the subject.

How does one even talk about a being that no one can physically see?

"So how was work today, Pearl?" asked Heptagon.

"Alright. The wedding delivery was today and the reception almost had to be moved."

"Moved? Why?"

"Something about the reception hall being sent to an alternate dimension or something? I don't know. It got fixed and everything went along as planned."

"Where was the reception hall?" Garden asked, studiously casual.

"About 4 blocks from here towards downtown."

"...Hm." The same general area that Discord had effected. Garden stared at her sister with cold eyes that made Pearl shift a little in her seat.

"Why is she looking at me like that?" Pearl silently wondered.

Across the table, Tea noticed the interaction between her daughters, sensing a possible argument brewing.

"So, you were trying to tell me something earlier, Garden. What happened to you today?"

She flinched as the clearly calculated calm of her mother, and was embarrassed at the hint of wariness in the eyes of a mare she held a growing respect for.

She saw that, and now she's afraid of what I'll do.

Beating back the feelings of hurt of this crushing revelation, Garden carefully answered, "You mean before I came home?"

"Yes."

Garden wasn't sure of how to sensibly explain the madness of Discord's release. None of it made sense. She didn't want to be thought of as lying like earlier. After all, she had no idea of how it all had started. After a long, awkward pause she decided to simply explain the events as she understood them to have happened.

"Well, I dropped off those papers I finished editing yesterday."

"Good little filly," Tea interrupted. Garden hated when she was cut off like this.

"Yeah," she replied tightly, "Anyway, as I was walking home, the sky suddenly started acting weird." Pearl nodded smugly at this part of the story. "There were these strange pink clouds that the weather ponies were trying to deal with but they seemed to not be able to. That's when everything...changed," she paused, haunted by the draconequus' work. She was relieved that her family was listening. "It was like the whole world turned into a gingerbread house gone wrong. The clouds were pink and the pegasi couldn't seem to affect them. The streets turned to waxed gold, all the buildings that weren't floating at various angles were turned into gingerbread. The birds were grapefruit, the donkeys were wearing sombreros and playing like they were in a mariachi band, and the upper class unicorns had their horns spinning with drill sounds. But the worst part was that it was hailing these gum balls that tasted like pepper and grubs."

"Wait," Heptagon injected, "How do you know what they tasted like?"

"I...I ate one."

Silence and then laughing.

"Y...haha... You ate a gumball that fell out of the sky?!" Pearl cackled.

Garden blushed, "Okay, not my brightest moment," she replied as the laughter finally started to die down, "Especially since it didn't even taste okay," she mumbled. Even Tang was chuckling and smiling his rare but infectious smile. Garden couldn't help but smirk and chuckle and her own insipidness eating that gumball, "Anyway, that was probably what held up the wedding reception, Pearl."

Still giggling, "Okay, I'll admit that I did see one of those bird-fruit things, but I thought it was just a unicorn experiment gone wrong."

"It wasn't, I'm not sure what exactly caused it, but I heard something about a monster from a long time ago come back to take over Equestria. Everythings fine now though."

"That also explains why you came back so upset," Tea added, "Why were you in such a hurry to get home?"

"I wanted to make sure you all were okay. I saw a lot of ponies get hurt today, and I was scared that one of you might have gotten hurt too," she shyly replied, looking all in her family.

Tea and Pearl smiled and hugged Garden from across the table, and Heptagon smiled warmly, levitating a small toy fish from the table center piece, and made it kiss Garden on her forehead making a "Chu" sound; making Garden giggle. Then there was Tang wolfing down his dinner.

* * *

Author Note: Sorry for the long pause for this chapter. Pretty much everything in my real life right now has been flipping itself upside down. Hope you all liked it. Please leave a review! ^^


	6. A Daunting Task

"So, what do ya think?"

"All looks good as usual, Garden."

A comment that Garden could never get sick of hearing, coupled with a feeling of contented pride of fulfilling one's cutie mark. An experience that reminded her of why she was still a freelance editor after so long. Sure, it wasn't her dream career, but she had worked worse jobs. And it was at least satisfying part of her special talent.

"And I know you'll like this next assignment," her boss in a voice that left her curious and unnerved, pointing a dark magenta hoof towards her cubby hole. Her interest peaked, she levitated the sizable stack of papers out to examine them. The thickness of the crudely sewn novel was her second red flag. She hadn't edited a work this thick since her first few years of working for the editing department. On the cover, the title read, "My Immortal" with no author written with it. In the bottom corner was a sticky note with a name and address. Her third red flag.

"Midnight?" she replied, dread edging her voice.

"Yes?"

"Did you read all of this?"

"...Not all of it, this time."

"...What do you mean 'this time'?"

"This is the seventh time she has submitted this… story to us."

"... ...Seven times," surprise and dread making her voice squeak helplessly.

"Yep."

"This is going to suck, isn't it?"

"Yes. Yes it is."

She sighed in defeat, and trudged out of the office to her own.

* * *

Three hours of reading, two hours of rage filled ranting, a hour coffee break, and three quills and one and a half pots of red ink later, the office was closing and everypony went outside to the courtyard for some nature and afterwork social time.

"Hey, Gard- Woah! What happened to you?!" a light grey and pink pegasus said.

"Hey, Rose," sighed Garden, looking like she had just ran a 5K race and came dead last, "'My Immortal' is killing me."

"Is that what you were screaming about earlier?"

"Yeah," she sighed, flopping onto the bench next to Diamond Rose.

"How far did you get?" she asked with trepidation.

"Barely scratched the tip of the iceberg," Garden replied, her head sagging.

"Seriously?! Why don't you just toss it?"

"Because she's a subclog," she replied resentfully, using a term in the publishing business describing someone that won't stop submitting their work until they get published.

"Oh no," she said sympathetically, putting a hoof on Garden's shoulder, "That sucks."

"No kidding. I hope your day is going better than mine."

"It's been all right. Same-old, same-old. But, my time in our department is almost up," she replied lightly.

"Miss Garden Rave!" yelled a prim voice from the doorway into the courtyard. Garden's and Rose's ears pinned back recognizing the voice. An ice-blue unicorn, with a expertly styled magenta mane stiffly trotted toward a resigned Garden and a fleeing Rose. Garden took a slow, calming breath.

"Yes, Miss Midnight Cinch?" she said when the middle aged mare was close, her jaw locked, and braced for impact.

"Is it truly necessary to scream obscenities while at work? I knew it was a bad move for my husband to hire the likes of _you_ to be an editor," a remark that stung We are a high class company, and we don't appreciate any crass 'west side' speech here. And to think that you were recently promoted to boot. I hope you realize that-"

"And that is where I must cut you off, dear wife."

Garden had never seen a more satisfying flinch. Nor been happier to see her dapper employer all day.

"Nighty!" she said a little too happily; and loudly, "Darling!"

"Is that how you treat my employees behind my back?"

"What? No! Never, dear! All your employees are… your…"

"You're terrible at lying. Just come clean, he already heard you anyway," droned a light lavender mare standing nearby.

Me: a sick burn meme comes to mind. YouTube "Black People React" ;)

Garden: What are you- stop messing with the fourth wall!

It was in this sort of environment that the mail came, along with a large, blue pegasus stallion with abnormally large wings. Pulling his cart through the street entrance of the courtyard, he looked up from his clipboard just before his partner zipped out of the small roofed carriage.

"Who we looking for again?" the small pegasus with little wings but large ears asked his partner.

He peered back to the clipboard in his hoof through his seemingly shut eyes before replying loudly, "A Mr. Midnight Blues?"

"That would be me," he said stepping forward to receive the package.

"Cool!" piped the small, green colt, zipping down to help his partner unhitch himself. All three stallions walked around the carriage as a small crowd of the lingering employees gathered to see what had arrived. Cinch glared sideways at Garden, while Garden studiously ignored the middle-aged nag; preferring to examine the logo on the side of the steel carriage. It was stylized, brown box with a large white wing flaring down the side of vehicle.

A powerful symbol for speed, she thought. And a nice continuity for the delivery pony's gigantic wings. They must be larger than even Princess Celestia's! I like it.

Among the various coworkers gathering to watch the proceedings, the pale lavender earth pony with stylish, but functional mane, and eyes that spoke of quiet, harsh judgement turned to Cinch and said the following in her flat, quick voice: "You don't know how to time your rebukes. And you have no respect for your husband's decisions. It's surprising you two are still together."

Garden had never enjoyed the irony of Sugarcoat's name quite so much. Though she wished she had just a sliver of her talent for epic comebacks. Just once, be the verbal hero she always wanted to be.

The stallions came back, the blue pegasus carrying a fairly large box on his back, his wings half open, steadying the package. The green colt hovered around the box, adding further stability with his hooves. As they were passing by, Garden got a whiff of them. The first scent was Midnight, leading the procession, and she already knew the light musk of the cologne he always tastefully wore. She imagined, this is what a father smells like. The second scent though, was a bit stronger, and smelled of cedar and pine with a backdrop of what can only be described as "male." The scent felt like it soaked lusciously into her very being, and couldn't help the shiver and blush at the sensation as they passed. A flash vision passed her eyes for a moment:

_A smooth warm body sending liquid fire into her heart, her back arching into it's alluring warmth…_

Me: Those forbidden stranger sexy visions. Gets you everytime. 3

Garden: No! Bad Heather! I mean… thank you for interrupting my wet day dream, but you are interrupting-

Me: Whatever, we both know you're secretly drooling on the inside.

Garden: HEATHER! /

Me: ^/^ :3

Garden shook the experience away, blushing harder at realizing she might have just been seen in that… vulnerable state by somepony else. Especially Sugarcoat.

* * *

The trot home was perfectly dull and uninspiring. The best and worst type of walk home. Garden always took this time to listen to her favorite music and brood. The playlist of the day was titled "Homework Time;" a series of instrumentals ranging from calming orchestrals to inspiring electronica. She mostly thought about how to attack the rage inducing monster of a "story" she was tasked with dealing with. Mostly. She tried not to think about the delivery stallion. Or more accurately his smell. Such an infuriatingly distracting smell. It was too good!

Me: And I've got a… food in the oven. .

Garden cleared her throat as she neared the house, and she was the first one home as usual. She straightened her posture, debating on what to do before Blue Tang was dropped off from school. Her beanbag chair project? The saddlebags? The origami dragons? Something new? Journal time?

She used her unlocking spell to her shared bedroom, "Yes, journaling sounds pleasant," she thought. She pulled out a small, hardbound notebook, tastefully decorated with various flowers. She opened the notebook to her To-Do List, to go over what she wanted to get done and cross off anything she had done. With her quill, and favorite ink, she crossed off "Get work schedule", and "Turn in magic theory essay". At the bottom of the list, right under "Laundry", she added "Finish reading through 'My Immortal'"; something she could technically do right now if she wanted. She had brought the manuscript with her, like she always did with all her other half-finished work projects. But then again, she had only just read through, and minorly edited one third of the semi-thick volume, and just that small stack of pages had sent her into a rage that had half changed into Ms. Rave several times in just a few short hours. Garden wanted to take a nap, she wanted to just go to bed unusually early and risk waking up in the middle of the night again. She knew that it was too late to take a short nap. Her pillow silently luring her to lay on it. She could feel its pull on the back of her head. But she promised her mother to not do that again for a while. She tended to wake up ranting. Loudly. About nothing in particular. It was funny enough around the time everypony else woke up, but not at 3 in the morning.

There was a loud, insistent knock at the door that jolted Garden from her thoughts. She glanced at the clock on her desk, and realized she had been lost in thought for around half an hour. Blue Tang was already home. She would have to put off writing a journal entry a little longer.

_AN: So this chapter was definitely a lot easier to handle and write. I am actually planning on re-reading the entire "My Immortal" abomination so I can properly write a chapter a little down the line and I will be linking relevant side documents to that when it comes time for that. Hope you all liked this new installment and will leave a review! What's the good in "goodbye." ;3_


End file.
